Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

Think small. Alot

Yes. I know. We are always being told. ‘Be all you can become’. ‘The sky is the limit’. ‘You are the only obstacle to what you can become in life.’. ‘Aim at the sun/moon and you might fall among the stars’. Alot of crap.

How about we, just for once, look at these concepts from another angle. A REALISTIC angle. Putting everything into consideration. Depending on acumen. Not luck.

The true measure of success and achievement lies in self-discovery. Finding out what YOU can do, and doing it the best way possible.

In thinking ‘big’, alot of people find out what CAN BE DONE, and try to do it, ignoring their own limitation. Allow me to indulge your mind and step on your ego for 5 minutes (hoping it is not as fragile and plastic as many Kenyan egos are). Look at life in a different angle. For 5 minutes.

I have met and read about alot of people who are ‘creating their own facebook’, who ‘have a better mPesa’, who ‘are the next BIG thing’, who ‘are the African Google’, who ‘will become the paypal of Africa’. Etc. The list is endless. Good stuff. Positive stuff. But is it REAL? Are these people/we thinking way above our cut? Are we attempting to do 100 MPH, using a Vitz?

Face it. Not everyone is destined to be great. I have met a lot of foot-soldiers who think they are generals. A lot of born-to-sweep people who will tell you, ‘this sweeping job is just temporary’.

‘Salim stop discouraging people! Let people dream!’, I hear you. Actually, the purpose of this post is to encourage you to CHANGE your tactic, to achieve your end. The Kompressing Coder end. So read along. There is a REAL confusion between the noble concept of ‘thinking big’ and the vice of ‘thinking greedy’. People look at the DESIRED END and totally ignore the ‘little boring’ nitty-gritty in the MEANS.

When I listen to alot of people talk about what they want to achieve, I sometimes engage them on a technical analysis to see if they really understand what it takes to do that. Sadly, most, when weighed and measured, are found wanting. Thinking beyond their knowledge and ability, just because they read about it somewhere or on a Twit.

Take an example 1: Creating your own Gmail.

The general thinking is simplistic. Get a Unix box, setup an SMTP Server (Exim/Postfix/qMail), some POP3/IMAP server (Courier/Cyrus), Throw in Procmail and Spamassassin. A  few 4TB Nas drives. Server Done. Get a python/php Mail system + a good MySQL/Postgres Db and register a domain. KenyaFreeMail.com. Done.

The REAL picture, is a little more daunting. Very many SMALL details come to play. How will attachments be stored and hashed? Are we avoiding duplicates by ensuring the SAME attachment batch is saved-onces and multi-referenced across forwards and reply-with-attachment convos? Is the Unix Kernel optimized to ensure maximum performance per node? Are you using a semblance of the Google SRE Standards to make sure you are ALWAYS online? What happens when you reach your 1, 089, 666th user?

Take an example 2: Creating your own Facebook.

Again. Thinking beyond the product. The user experience and user-fatigue management is King. Alot of people I have met have concepts on how Facebook can be monetized. But, trust me, FB would not be where it was if it was taken as an Ad Space. Think about the photos. The videos. User data and messages.

You wan to build your own Facebook. Have you tested your DB with just 10M users each uploading just 10 photos a week. A remote zombified simulation of actual events? That is just WRITE. How about READ? Each photo has 4 thumbnails. Make that 10*4. Think storage. What gives you more optimization? Storing the Images as real files or DB data. Are you going to use BLOB or a Base64 encoding of the Image if DB? have you considered CDNs?

Take an example 3: Creating your own Mxit/2Go/Mig33/eBuddy.

One of the most interesting and VIRGIN areas in Africa is the Mobile. People are still touching themselves over MMT, but the real goldmine is, as I blogged last week, is on Mobile Data. I will prove this in the coming weeks.

So, want to create your own Mxit? Wonderful! What server will you run? How will you handle conversations? Default XML Stanzas or Custom WBXML? Are you going to create your own content channel-bots (reliable but static) or hire humans (dynamic and updated but unreliable, needy and emotional). What about device fragmentation? Is the system ubiquitous (access-mode independent)?

From personal experience and in conclusion, my point is: don’t think ‘alphabet’, if you haven’t grasped the shape, sound and feel of letter ‘A’ and letter ‘a’. The human mind is a very powerful tool. Control it before it controls you. The school of thought that ‘you can do anything’ often renders one actionless. You end up doing NOTHING. Better think SMALL and do SOMETHING. Then build up from your small victories.

Your end might be Big. But looking at the FINAL picture is really overwhelming. In Concept and resource.

Think small. Now. Time is on your side. Small + Small = BIG. And that, boys and girls, is what I call the Erection Model. the ripple model.

Back to code…

Wazi

Everyone is on Facebook. Right.

I know. Facebook this, Facebook that. It is not uncommon to hear people in the streets, club or classes blurt, “Everyone if on Facebook. if you ain’t in, you ain’t cool. You are nyumaz like dubbz”. I always retort, “Everyone in your small world, maybe”.

Such is the ignorance.

“So, Salim”, you ask, “What is your beef with Facebook now?” Sincerely, nothing. Really. Nothing. Facebook is big. No wonder most Kenyan bloggers touch themselves all over at the mention of FB or Mark. FB could be 1Billion users+ had China not been run like someone’s house. But that is as far as the story goes.

Facebook recently, FINALLY, reached 1M people, In Kenya. As at 12:52:00 today, Facebook had 1, 005, 400 Kenyans between the age of 13 and above. Between 18 and above is 932, 000. All poking, blocking and NKTing each other. Amazing, right? Yeah.

Kenya has an Internet population of 6.5 M people (September 2010. Maybe 7m now?? Orange Internet anyone?). So, this means that :

Only 15.4 percent of Kenyans who CAN be on Facebook, Actually. Are. 84.6% are waiting for YOU. And Me. These are the ones that wameingia, wakaona, wakatoka… or just aren’t bothered. What does FB lack that Kenyans are Addicted to? My 2 cents.

1. Group Chat

Go to 2Go, Yahoo Chat, Mashada etc. Full of chatters. FB, understandably due to the XMPP load on MUCs, have decided Not to add this feature. Kenyans like feeling important. and where else can you do that than a chat-room where you can go and live in utopia, call yourself 7-InchTed or SameSizeBoobs without flinching, whilst you know you are lying?

One-one-one chat does not give the Kenyan Egos the nourishment they need.

2. Personalization

I know. MySpace tried this and it brought clatter and mayhem. But we want it. A blue profile page for EVERYONE isn’t cool. I like Green. Can my profile page be green, Please?

The opportunity

If your balls are as big, round and smooth as mine, this comes as good news. Local Content is NOT YET online. Some small amount is. Content + Context = King. Content is King, but context is queen. And she decides when atageiana.

FB Ads brings in the concept of context well. But FB Ads are only available on Web. 4M of the 6.5M Kenyans are Mobile Internet Users.

If you haven’t seen the opportunity in those words, then endelea kuskuma VB.

Back to code.

Wazi.

It is sad. Honestly, really sad.

I sat with Buju the other day and he asked me : “Salim. Wewe huwezi unda your own Facebook na venye code unaimesea?”. My response is the same respose I once gave DjCK, Okech and Sebi. “Put me in a position that I won’t have to worry about rent for 6 months, and I will give you the world.”

So, the discussion went on. I pointed out that ANYTHING Safaricom touches, turns to a pile of shiite. Mxit has MILLIONS of people all over the world. Safaricom brought it to Kenya, did over 100 pages of color ads, and it died, as expected. Meanwhile, 2Go is keeping Kenyans teens awake till 3am.

Next up, Facebook. In this encouraging post about the opportunities for Kenyan Coders, I did on March 9 2010, Facebook had 580, 000 Kenyans. On its own. No advertising, just viral value additions. Then Safaricom started doing their Ads and USSD codes + TV ads using that smigo-faced ugly rasta jamaa. 5 Months later today, the site has 776, 920 users. Pathetic, if you ask me. Facebook has Stagnated, As soon as SafCom stepped in.

They say EVERYONE IS ON FACEBOOK… Well, we must be the smallest country in the world.

Facebook has STAGNATED since Safaricom touched her

“So”, Buju continued. “Now that ONLY 19.43% of the Kenyans with the Internet are on FB, and the growth is stagnating., what can developers do to harness the massive 81% that is NOT on Facebook?”. I smiled.

“And what is this other system you are saying that is being tested now and will come to really shock Mpesa?”, He asked. I smiled more.

Back to code!

Wazi.